I had lunch today with a friend of mine who has his own Web development shop. Aside from the fact that we both realized working for other people sucks, we were talking a bit about success and being happy.
The more I got to thinking about it, the more I realized that there isn't really a standard or metric out there to draw any conclusions about what success is. It's even more complicated by the fact that those of us who drive to be successful are often our harshest critics and not able to rest on the point we're at.
So despite all of this ambiguity, I have decided there are a few things that success means to me. They are:
- Social love and security. You need a spouse and/or family that loves you and that you can love back. Life might be a bitch, but it's a lot easier to deal with when there are other people around. If you can't share experiences, what's the point?
- Money. Anyone who tells you money doesn't matter is full of shit. When you have money, you don't have to worry as much about survival. Now I would agree that having lots of money can cause all kinds of new problems, sure, but not having it just isn't much fun.
- Like what you do. The notion that you should just go through life doing something you don't really care about is bullshit. You have to work to function in society, so you might as well do something that feeds the soul.
- Do what you like. There has to be more to life than work and home life. For me it's volleyball and roller coasters. Make sure you can do those things when you feel like it and not restricted by anyone or anything.
So looking at that list, I'd say I'm pretty successful in all but the "like what you do" category. I'll have to work on that.